Nitori and the Ducks
by Miss Mairin
Summary: Nitori is annoyed with Momotaro and goes to the park. He meets a bunch of ducks. That's it, that's the story. Quick one-shot. I mean, who doesn't want to read a story about Nitori and a bunch of ducks?


**Nitori and His Ducks**

_This is so stupid, _Nitori grumbled to himself, stomping away from the school's dorms. He even thought about cussing a little bit, but decided against it, because, well, it's Nitori Aiichirou. He doesn't does, he might want to, but never does.

Distracting himself with the semi-argument of swear words made him feel a little bit better, but it was short lived. The recent memory of being asked by Momotaro to leave the dorm for a couple hours flooded back into his mind. _Arrghh! _Nitori complained,pulling at his hair up in frustration. It's not like he didn't understand, because he did. He got it - Momo deserved some time with his girlfriend, since everyone had been so busy with swimming. But Momo's girlfriends never last long, and Nitori was really looking forward to wasting a sunny afternoon lazing about in the dorm room. Not only that, but Momotaro was so… so… cocky, with the way he asked - no, told - Nitori to leave. _What a jerk. And I'm even his upperclassman! Usually he's all manners - maybe even embarrassingly so, _he huffed, utterly annoyed.

Aiichirou decided to take a walk around the park near the school, and maybe get a snack to go with his lunch. He stopped at one of the many entrances to the park, admiring the pretty foliage and beautiful pond. Nitori quickly made his way towards said pond, sitting down on a bench overlooking it. Pulling out his lunch, he decided he would get a snowcone after he finished eating.

Instead of the bento he usually ate, Nitori had made a Western style ham and cheese sandwich, complete with the plastic bag and everything. Since he didn't really like the crust on the bread, he peeled it off neatly, putting it back in the bag.

Munching on the sandwich, he watched the world go by. Couples strolled around the park, kids played on the playground, joggers jogged, and ducks walked towards Nitori. _Wait, what? _

A few feet away, on the ground, were a couple ducks waddling their way towards him. Nitori looked in confusion as they got closer, their quacking getting louder by the second. The first thing he noticed - besides them being ducks, of course - was that they looked like people he knew. How that was possible, he didn't know - but they did.

There was an adult duck, - maybe a female mallard? - that looked like Makoto. It's feathers were a smooth brown, and the duck gracefully waddled towards Nitori with another duck besides it. This duck was also an adult, but a male mallard instead. It had a shiny greenish-blue head, and seemed annoyed with life - their feathers were ruffled, while the momma duck looked amused. Of course, this one was appropriately nicknamed Haru-duck.

Suddenly, a bunch of quacks came from behind the mama and papa duck. A bunch of baby ducklings were huddled up, running after their parents. One was completely blond - _Nagisa, probably, _he thought. His thought was definitely confirmed when the duckling pounced on another duckling - a darker duckling, with blond and brown uncoordinatedly spread throughout its body - Rei, of course. When Nagisa - ah, the blond duck - had pounced on the Rei-duck, Rei-duck immediately huffed and ruffled its feathers, feigning annoyance. The third duckling was instead pounding on papa-Haru-duck, demanding attention. This one reminded Aiichirou of Rin-senpai very much. Even darker than Rei-duck, Rin-duck was completely brown, with smooth feathers that just yelled laid-back. Haru-duck swatted Rin-duck away and Mamakoto-duck just giggled.

Of course, Nitori had been giggling this entire time. _Oh jeez, this is way better than being at the dorm, _he chuckled to himself. All of a sudden, he realized he still had the bread crust. Smiling, Nitori fed the ducks. He felt a little self conscious - you know, feeling like _that one old lady that always feeds the birds. _

Mamakoto-duck kindly took the bread out of Nitori's hand, to his surprise. Sure, he knew ducks were social animals, but he didn't expect the duck to be so nice. _Lives up to his Makoto name, huh. _

Now, for Haru-duck, he wouldn't take it. Haru-duck only ate the bread when it was thrown far away from everyone, including the ducklings. Rei-duck and Nagisa-duck both fought over a piece of bread crust, while there was a completely free bread crust not a foot away, as Rin-duck was munching away happily on his own.

Soon, Nitori ran out of food to give them, so he settled for watching the ducks interact. It was creepy how alike the ducks and their human counterparts were. Mamakoto-duck watched her/his family fondly, as Rei-duck and Nagisa-duck half heartedly argued, and Rin-duck annoyed Haru-duck, who was trying to talk to Makoto-duck, but still liked Rin-duck's attention.

But it got better.

Soon enough, a big duckling, if you could call him that, waddled up to the scene. Sousuke. He was a dark brown duck, about the size of Mamakoto-duck, but it was obvious he was still a duckling - possibly the odd duckling out. Nitori actually laughed, not a little fake laugh, but a boisterous, loud laugh.

Sousuke-duck nipped at Rin-duck, pulling him away from Haru-duck. He also glared at Haru-duck. How appropriate. _I wonder if there's a Momo-duck and maybe a duck for myself as well? Sousuke-duck might be dragging Rin-duck home!_

Nitori giggled again, full of joy. Who knew watching ducks could be so great? He sighed, glancing at the family of ducks with a smile. They looked so happy, and Nitori was, well… lonely. He had been away from the dorm for a good hour and a half now, and he had been alone the whole time. He decided it was time to go back, and stood up.

Smiling and waving at the ducks, he turned around to leave. A couple of the ducks quacked, and Nitori laughed, saying something about being back with more bread. This time, the quacks were more happy. How a single sound can portray emotion was beyond Nitori's comprehension.

A few minutes of walking later, Aiichirou had arrived at the school's dorms. He sighed, not completely over his loneliness, before walking inside and opening his dorm room's door. Sprawled out on his bed was Rin, reading a magazine. Not Rin-duck, but the human counterpart. Sitting on the edge of the bed was Sousuke with a weird expression on his face. Half annoyed and half amused. And, of course, Momotaro was sitting in the desk chair, a pout on his face. Most likely, his date hadn't gone well.

All three looked up at the same time to see Nitori standing at the doorway. Momotaro smiled brightly, pouncing on his upperclassman, whining about being lonely because girls toooottally SUCK! Rin smiled fondly, and Sousuke nodded, acknowledging the smaller boy.

"Welcome home, Ai," Rin said, before going back to reading his magazine.

_Jeez, these guys… always managed to make me feel better._

"I'm home," Nitori murmured in response, a slight smile on his face.


End file.
